Camping with kids: why a ball is the best camping toy

When adults start planning

When adults plan a camping holiday, it is easy to get lost in the details. We sit there comparing campsites, reading reviews and studying maps. How big is the pool? Is there a jumping pillow? What does the playground look like? Do they have a kids' club? What activities are on the schedule?

Everything gets weighed and considered, and honestly, that is perfectly understandable. We want our children to have an amazing holiday and we want to make sure there is plenty for them to do. Many of us spend hours trying to find that perfect campsite where everything seems to be available in one place.

But sometimes I wonder if we adults make things far more complicated than they need to be.

Because when you finally arrive at the campsite, the children often seem to have a completely different plan from the one we carefully put together at the kitchen table. While we are busy connecting electricity, putting up the awning, checking the levelling blocks and dealing with all the practical details of arrival day, the kids have already found the playground, identified the other children on the campsite and, in many cases, disappeared long before the coffee maker is unpacked.

It is actually fascinating to watch how quickly children adapt to campsite life. Where adults see logistics, children see opportunities.

Children are better at camping than adults

The more camping trips we have taken as a family, the more convinced I have become that children are often much better at camping than adults.

They do not need much to switch into holiday mode. They do not worry about whether the view is perfect or whether the campsite renovated the service building over the winter. They are not interested in star ratings or whether the reception sells fresh bread every morning.

They want to play.

And campsites happen to be fantastic places for exactly that.

There are usually other children nearby. There are bikes, playgrounds, small paths to explore and a sense of freedom that many children rarely experience in everyday life. At a campsite they are often allowed to move around more independently within safe boundaries, and that seems to suit most children perfectly.

The magic of a ball

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that a ball may be the most underrated piece of camping equipment you can bring.

I do not really know why it works so well, but it almost feels like a law of nature. Give a child a ball and an open grassy field, and things start happening.

At first there might be one child kicking the ball around. Then another child joins. A little later there is suddenly a football match involving half the campsite.

The rules are questionable at best. Teams change constantly. Nobody seems to keep track of the score. And after a while nobody remembers who actually brought the ball in the first place.

But that does not matter.

What matters is that the game continues.

This is also where many campsite friendships begin. Children who have never met before somehow become teammates within minutes. Differences in age, language and background suddenly seem far less important than they do to adults.

A ball is almost a universal language.

Why I love open grassy spaces

Over the years I have actually started appreciating large open grassy areas more than large pool complexes.

Do not get me wrong. Pools are fantastic and children love them. But a pool is usually one activity among many. A good grassy field becomes a gathering place that children return to again and again throughout the holiday.

It is where football matches begin. It is where games of tag suddenly appear. It is where frisbees fly through the air and new friendships are formed without a single adult needing to organise anything.

A truly great family campsite is not only about the activities it offers. It is just as much about the opportunities it creates.

Is there space to run?

Is there space to play?

Is there space to simply be a child?

Those are the questions I find myself asking more and more often.

The freedom that camping provides

Perhaps that is also why so many children love camping.

At home, life is often filled with schedules, school, sports practices, activities and screens competing for attention. That is simply how modern life works, but it also means that much of a child's day is planned in advance.

At a campsite, life feels different.

The pace slows down. Children find friends on their own, cycle between pitches and create small worlds that only exist for that particular week. They learn how to find their way around, take initiative and solve small problems without an adult standing next to them every second.

That is healthy.

And if I am being honest, I think it is just as healthy for us parents to witness.

What I look for today

When someone asks me what matters most in a family-friendly campsite, my answer is a little different from what it would have been a few years ago.

Of course, a good playground matters.

Of course, a pool is nice.

But I also look for things that rarely appear at the top of a campsite description.

Can children cycle safely?

Are there large open spaces?

Is there room for spontaneous football matches without somebody kicking the ball into a caravan, a car or the neighbour's awning?

Does the campsite feel safe enough for children to enjoy a bit of freedom?

Very often, those are the things that determine how successful the holiday will actually be.

Pack the ball pump instead

So parents, stop making things more complicated than they need to be.

You do not always need the biggest pool, the longest activity schedule or the most impressive playground.

Sometimes all you need is a safe campsite, a few new friends, a grassy field and a ball.

Many of the best camping memories are not created by the things listed in a campsite brochure. They happen between football matches, bike rides and evenings that somehow become longer than you planned.

So the next time you are planning your summer camping holiday, spend a little less time comparing pool areas and a little more time thinking about where your children will actually want to spend their days.

And most importantly.

Pack the ball pump instead.